A Scholar’s Guide to the Works of George Silver: Part One

Have you ever wondered how people fought in the age of Shakespeare? When duels were common and Elizabethan England was prepared to fight against the Spaniard? In his book Paradoxes of Defence, George Silver explained the weaknesses of long rapiers and foreign tricks as a useful weapon for personal defence and showed how certain principles were true while others that worked in the salon failed on the battle field.

Scholar’s Guide is an explanation of the principles described in George Silver’s two works Paradoxes of Defence published and printed by Edward Blount 1599 and Brief Instructions [Sloane manuscript no.376] circa 1604-5 not published in Silver’s lifetime but in 1898 by Col. C.G.R. Matthey and reproduced by Sword Works in 2008 from a new scholar’s point of view the advantages of the single hilted back sword for war and personal defence.